New Years Resolution: Going from Fat/Weak to Strong.

[Winona77]

Hey readers!

So I have started my first strength training program since I screwed around in a high school summer weightlifting course (7 years ago).

After being a yo-yo dieter from ineffective cardio/nautilus circuits, to becoming completely out of shape from my first semester in graduate school, I bought Starting Strength and read it twice before I could afford a gym membership for my second semester to turn things around. I found a great gym, and as part of my joining I get a 1 hour personal training session with a trainer. Luckily, I got paired with a guy who did Starting Strength and then now does the Texas Method for the past 2 years.

For my log, I am using it as a training log, nutritional planning log, and personal journal for measuring my success. Anyone is welcome to comment or provide advice, I am a very ambitious beginner and I am going to do this seriously for a minimum of 12 months.

My back story is that I was weak starting college, and I immediately gained 50 lbs in my first two years (up to 260). I went vegan/ate whole foods and lost a tremendous amount of weight (down to 185), but I didn't gain any strength and went from 0 pullups to 1.5-- not much of an improvement for such a weight change. The diet was unsustainable and after 2 years of rowing and unorganized dumb bell lifting I climbed back up but am much stronger than before.

I am very data driven, so I will be logging my stats at regular intervals. I hope to do a sprint test and pull-up test too, to see how my other indicators change.

About Me:
Sex: Male
Age: 22 (23 in a few weeks)
Location: Lombard, IL
Occupation: Local Government Intern/Graduate Student

My Starting Stats (absolutely terrible):
Weight: 225lbs
Height: 6'3"
Bodyfat: 27% (this hurt, I always imagine I am much less sense I am slight framed)

Measurements:
Neck (around Adam's apple): 14.25" (it's a bitch to buy shirts with 37" ape arms)
Chest (Flexed at nipple line): 45"
R Bicep (flexed): 14"
R Forearm (at peak): 10"
R Wrist: 6" (my least favorite part of my body)
Belly (at button and relaxed): 39"
Pant Line/Waist (relaxed): 39"
R Thigh (peak): 25.5" (some muscle, lot of unwanted fat)
R Calf(peak): 15.5"
R Ankle: 5.5" (amazing genetics right there...)

After my first day of testing my form and finding my Starting Strength work sets, I worked up to doing:

Squat: 3x5 at 95lbs (form started needs work)
Bench Press: 3x5 at 95lbs (felt good, may have been able to do more but this is a good starting spot for me)
Deadlift: 1x5 at 135lbs

Nutrition: 75% paleo, with some dairy and some grains (whole-grain organic cereals and wild rice occasionally). Saturday is a cheat day so that I can drink and splurge on a delicious sugary coffee drink in the morning.

On top of this, I Intermittent Fast on lifting days. I am sure most here are mixed or against IF, but it works well for my schedule as a student and worker. It also helps my focus in the day, which I really need.

For the first two weeks (until financial aid payday), my calories will be lower than desired (around 3,000/day, most from bulk eggs and peanut butter). Once I am not living on $25/a week for food, I will move up to a higher protein, 4,000/day diet.

If you read through all of this, I apologize for rambling like a mad man. I am all pumped, from yesterday and can't wait for my workout tomorrow with form check.


Thanks and I will update my logs tomorrow with Day #2 numbers and results.

-Jack

[Winona77]

Day 2:

"Form Check"

So my free meeting with the trainer was terrible. Excited to utilize my hour with the strength coach for form checks, the gym was backed up so he had to pass me off to another guy-- the biggest, roided out looking bodybuilder I have ever seen. As soon as I told him what I was doing (starting strength), he shot it down and wanted me to do his method instead-- the "Notre Dame" method consisting of rotations of bench press pyramids (only lowering to 3 inches above chest), incline press, decline press, and chest cable flys...........

Workout:

After waiting for the trainer and over working out on the rowing machine, I had to do chest circuits at 60-90% of my max till I was exhausted. Once he left me alone I started my squat/deadlift sets (since chest was well covered...)

Feeling: B

Lifts:
Bench Press: 3x5 at 105lbs
Squat: 1x2 at 115 lbs, decreased down to a +10 for 3x5 at 105lbs
Deadlift: 1x5 at 155 lbs (felt great)

Hopefully my workout is better on Wednesday, but the gym requires I do a heart rate test on the treadmill first....

[Sven]

Looks good! At your age you will get some pretty dramatic gains in your strength if you stay with the Starting Strength program. But do the whole program, don't worry about BF%, that will work itself out as you gain strength, your body needs the food to recover and really that is what you're here for. If you want more information about programming I would encourage you to get the book, Practical Programming for Strength Training, at some time in the not too distant future you will begin to move from the Novice Lifter stage to Intermediate and then Advanced you will want to have some familiarity with programs that will help you continue and not take you off on some tangent with a lot of silly nonsense. It will also give you some ammunition to answer the 'roided out dudes. I look forward to watching your progress, have fun.

[Winona77]

Thanks Sven, you can always count on a Minnesotan for a helpful response Grew up near Forest Lake myself!

Nutrition:

Fasted for 24 hours before my lift yesterday and it felt great. However, afterwards (about 7:30pm by this time) I was hardly hungry and only at 3 eggs (~225cal) and a bag of steamed spinach (~100 cal). To compensate for it, I thought it would be a good idea to drink an entire half gallon of Silk dark chocolate almond milk(~950cal) in about an hour-- thinking it would be some hippy equivalent to GOMAD. Man, was I ever wrong, and spent the night throwing it up. Was still hungry so I made a huge PB+jam sandwich (sprouted grain bread).

I ate much bigger today, 2 chicken breasts, a bag of spinach, about 3 PB+J sandwiches, and about 5 eggs. I need to figure out a way to get more clean calories in during the day, the IF just may not be enough calories for SS.

Workout #3 tomorrow (starting OHP tomorrow!)

[Sven]

Eggs are good, I eat lots of them. For the longest time I only ate a couple slices of toast and had a couple cups of coffee for breakfast. My dad and other folks at the gym convinced me to start eating more, so now I'll have a couple of eggs, toast, milk and maybe some meat. The thing I like to do after a workout is to knock off a whey protein shake, I get my stuff at Walmart, my body feels like a sponge as that thing is going down. Then I go to Cub or Rainbow foods and look for marked down steaks, New York strip or Ribeye, are my favorite, they really aren't any more expensive than a double quarter pounder with cheese at McDonald's. If not I'll get a half pound of hamburger. I'll eat that for lunch along with a cup of cottage cheese. For dinner my wife is pretty good about cooking, her dad had a cattle farm, she knows how to cook a roast. Point is if you asked me how much I take in in grams of protein or calories I couldn't tell you. I do know if I don't eat enough I am sore and can't sleep. I got back into this in October, my weight went down and now it is maybe 5 lbs over what I started at. But I am 61 so things happen at a slower pace for me than they will for you.

[Winona77]

Day 3: 1/9/2013

Workout:

Squat: 2x5x45lbs, 1x5x85lbs, 1x3x95lbs, 1x2x125lbs, 1x3x115lbs, 3x5x110lbs
Notes: I tried to increase the weight by +20lbs from the last workout, which resulted in sloppy form and me not sure if I was going to get the weight up (which was scary, since I was in the squat stand rather than the power rack. Lesson learned). The increase was taxing and made my other goal of adding +10lbs nearly impossible, where +5lbs proved to be achievable with cleaner form.

OHP: 3x5x45lbs, 1x5x55lbs, 3x5x65lbs
Notes: The overhead press felt great, I probably could have gone further than 65lbs but I feel it is a good starting point to prevent stalling too soon in the program.

Deadlift: 1x5x135lbs, 1x0x185lbs, 1x2x175lbs, 1x5x165lbs
Notes: Another valuable lesson-- don't be an idiot. I tried to increase my deadlift by +30lbs to 185lbs (a 45 and 25 on each side felt like a good accomplishment). I *may* have been able to do it, but it was the first time my deadlift has ever gone up slowly. My back lost tightness and in a panic I set the weight back down. I lowered again to +20lbs, but concern over my form caused me to switch to +10lbs, which felt better and I could focus on my form.

What this workout showed me is that I need to focus on the long haul. I started to stall on my 3rd workout, but that was with massive increases in weight (+50lbs in a week of deadlifting was excessive). I have decided to begin what Starting Strength suggests after a couple weeks of progress, +10lbs on deadlift and +5lbs on squat/BP/OHP.

Based on my starting numbers, if I follow this progression for three months (assuming I don't stall), my weights will increase from:

Squat: 95lbs --> 275lbs (+180lbs increase)
OHP: 65lbs --> 155lbs (+90lbs increase)
Deadlift: 135lbs --> 375lbs (+120lbs first month doing 3xweek, +60lbs/month after)

If I hit these numbers in three months, I am more than happy with my progress and will continue towards these goals.

Nutrition:
7am: Cup of coffee
9am-noon: 1/2 gallon of water
noon: 1 quart of chocolate whole milk (~900 calories)
12-5pm: 1/2 gallon of water
5pm: 1 scoop of Jack3d (hate it but I have a jar left over and the BCAA's/creatine/caffeine seems to help)
Post workout: 5g creatine, 2 6oz chicken breasts, grilled veggies, ~16oz dark chocolate almond milk, and a massive heaping of white rice (~2300 calories total)

Much better nutrition for yesterday, and I feel good today (besides soreness in my hip flexors, flexibility is being an issue).

With the new semester starting, I am switching from a Sa/M/W schedule to Sun/Tu/Th schedule, so I will have 3 days off instead of 2 this week. I think this will be good after the first week, when flexibility and familiarity with the movements provides a different type of stress on the body.

Because hitting 3,000 calories is an issue (as is $$$ for a few weeks), I am going to start drinking a half gallon of whole milk within 24 hours of a lift to ensure that I am feeding my body enough to rebuild. If this goes well, I may consider sticking to a half gallon/day (~1100 calories, 64gF/64gC/64gP) for a few months. My body fat is still high, but I just can’t imagine that it will get out of control with my relatively low calorie range from intermittent fasting a few days per week.

[subwindow]

Why on earth are you not eating solid food until the evening? You're going to be catabolic that entire time. Also, stay away from the chocolate milk. Whole milk is a wonderful thing and shouldn't be fucked with.

I'm sympathetic to the budgetary concerns, but eggs and milk aren't very expensive. At Costo milk is $2.58 a gallon and eggs are just over $1/dozen. At your local supermarket it may be slightly higher. Try eating eggs (cooked in butter, if possible) and ~24oz of milk first thing in the morning. The fat and protein is absolutely necessary to carry you through the day while staying anabolic.

[Winona77]

Why on earth are you not eating solid food until the evening? You're going to be catabolic that entire time. Also, stay away from the chocolate milk. Whole milk is a wonderful thing and shouldn't be fucked with.

I'm sympathetic to the budgetary concerns, but eggs and milk aren't very expensive. At Costo milk is $2.58 a gallon and eggs are just over $1/dozen. At your local supermarket it may be slightly higher. Try eating eggs (cooked in butter, if possible) and ~24oz of milk first thing in the morning. The fat and protein is absolutely necessary to carry you through the day while staying anabolic.

Yea there is no good reason I was doing IF, other than it was what I was doing for about a month prior to starting strength. I realized that the leangains method I was using should be saved for about 6 months down the road, when I am done with the bulking part of strength.

At first I was afraid of letting my body fat get out of control, but I am realizing that even with my intense eating my weight is staying static, I even lost about 2 lbs so far.

I have decided to fully commit to the program, and have upped my calories significantly. My girlfriend is supportive of the program, so I am going to eat as much as I can for a clean bulk.

Food I am now eating:

Chicken Thighs
Brown eggs
Heavy whipping cream/coffee
Butter
Whole milk
Spinach
Black Beans
Sweet potatoes/white rice

I am buying all from Costco, and my goal is to finish each "trip" (~$40) within a week. At around $5.75/day, that is not a bad price to feed yourself.

I am drinking about a half gallon of whole milk a day, starting my morning with the 24oz/3 glasses and finishing the other 40oz/5 glasses when I get home. Also going to try to start eating around 4 hardboiled eggs for breakfast, and a PB+J with spinach on the side for lunch.

Workout:
Squat: 2x5 at 45lbs, 1x5 at 85lbs, 1x3 at 95lbs, 3x5 at 110lbs
Notes: Felt great. This was the same weight as my last workout, but my mini-reset was to get my weights in line with if I added 5lbs/workout (10lbs/deadlift) from the start. After watching countless videos on form, I focused on keeping my knees wide and looking at the ground. Last week I was watching myself in the mirror, which caused my form to break down and for the weight to artificially seem very heavy.
OHP: 2x5 at 45lbs, 1x5 at 55lbs, 3x5 at 70lbs.
Deadlift: 2x5 at 135lbs, 1x5 at 165lbs (again, same weight to get back in line with my goals. Focused on form, felt good and much easier than last weeks disasterous deadlift.)

[subwindow]

Food I am now eating:

Chicken Thighs
Brown eggs
Heavy whipping cream/coffee
Butter
Whole milk
Spinach
Black Beans
Sweet potatoes/white rice

Way better. That's pretty close to what I eat. Keep going like this with the food and linearly progressing with the lifts, and you'll be satisfied with your body, I can assure you.

We have pretty similar body types: I was 6'4" and 210 lbs when I started, 6 months ago. I'm 235 lbs now- probably 5 lbs of the gain is fat. Even though I technically gained fat mass, I definitely look better. Broader shoulders make my waist seem smaller, even though it's the same size. The point is, don't worry about the fat.

[Karl Schudt]

Day 2:

"Form Check"

So my free meeting with the trainer was terrible. Excited to utilize my hour with the strength coach for form checks, the gym was backed up so he had to pass me off to another guy-- the biggest, roided out looking bodybuilder I have ever seen. As soon as I told him what I was doing (starting strength), he shot it down and wanted me to do his method instead-- the "Notre Dame" method consisting of rotations of bench press pyramids (only lowering to 3 inches above chest), incline press, decline press, and chest cable flys...........

You know, you might be able to find a coach in Illinois, somewhere near Chicago. . .